Malware collusion detection

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device. In one embodiment, a method for malicious inter-application interaction detection in a mobile computing device includes filtering applications installed in a mobile device to a set of related applications and then monitoring in the mobile device execution of the related applications in the set. The method additionally includes computing resource utilization of one of the related applications executing in a background of the mobile device while also computing execution performance of a different one of the related applications. Finally, the method includes responding to a determination that the computed resource utilization is high while the computed execution performance is poor by generating a notification in the display of the mobile device that the one of the related applications is suspected of malware collusion with the different one of the related applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to mobile application and wearable application interoperation with other mobile applications and wearable applications and more particularly to detecting malware collusion in a mobile device.

Description of the Related Art

Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system whose interfaces are completely understood to work with other products or systems, present or future in either implementation or access without any restrictions. In computing, interoperability often relates to two or more different computer programs (“applications”) co-existing within the same computing environment. Co-existence ordinarily implies that each different application executing in a computing environment operates without having been retarded by the operation of another application. Previously, co-existence referred to the separate and isolated execution of each application in the same computing environment. More recently, co-existence includes the notion of separately executing but cooperatively executing applications in the same environment, and, on occasion, interaction between separately executing applications.

Application co-existence in a single mobile device, however, is not without risk, however. Whereas the potential for enhancing the functionality of two co-existing applications remains great, the potential for abuse also remains. In this regard, co-operable applications enjoy the potential to access permission-protected information of one another through use of embedded communication mechanisms supplied by the underlying operating system. So much is particularly true of mobile computing environments including smart phones and wearable computing devices. For instance, the “Intent” mechanism in one such operating system allows co-existing applications to cause mischief with other co-existing applications through “inter-application invocations”—that is, the invocation by one application of a core logical component of another application in the same computing device, for example an “Activity” class instance.

Typical forms of mischief caused by the abusive utilization of malware collusions include tampering with the private data of a co-existing application, blocking notifications by a co-existing application, degrading the performance of a co-existing application by diverting or otherwise blocking or limiting access to resources by the coexisting application and obscuring a display of information by the co-existing application. In many instances, the end user remains unaware of the abusive operations of the offending application in obstructing the operation of a co-existing application.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a computer-implemented method A computer-implemented method for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device the method comprising: monitoring, by one or more processors, the computing resource usage of a first application executing in the foreground of a computing device; monitoring, by one or more processors, the computing resource usage of a second application executing in the background of a mobile computing device; comparing, by the one or more processors, the computing resource usage of the first application executing in the foreground to the computing resource usage of the second application executing in the background; determining, by the one or more processors, the computing resource usage of the second application executing in the background, increases simultaneously and usage remains increased while the first application executes in the foreground, using machine logic; and responsive to a positive determination that the computing resources of the second application executing in the background increase and remain increased during execution of the first application operating in the foreground, sending an alert indicative of the positive determination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial illustration of a process for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a mobile data processing system configured for malware collusion detection; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention provide for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, applications installed onto a mobile device are classified in terms of how related each of the applications is to one another so as to identify applications of common function. Then, operational characteristics of two different related ones of the applications executing in memory of the mobile device are monitored by a security application also executing in the memory of the mobile device. When one of the two different applications executes in the foreground of the mobile device while the other of the two different applications executes in the background of the mobile device, the performance of the application executing in the foreground is measured as is the resource utilization of the application executing in the background. To the extent that the background application is determined to consume a high degree of resources of the mobile device at the expense of the performance of the foreground application, the background application is labeled potentially hostile to the foreground application and a notice is generated in a display of the mobile device.

In further illustration, FIG. 1 is a pictorial illustration of a process for malicious inter-application interaction detection in a mobile computing device. As shown in FIG. 1 , an application repository 110 stores a multiplicity of different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E published for deployment onto different mobile devices 120 such as a smartphone, tablet computer or wearable computing device. A relatedness graph 140 is generated for the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E. The relatedness graph 140 indicates a relatedness between each of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E and each other of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E published for deployment to different mobile devices 120.

Each of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E may be represented in the graph 140 as a node and the edges connecting each of the nodes annotated with a relatedness value such as a number whose value indicates a position in a range of relatedness from low to high, or a symbol indicative of a low, medium or high degree of relatedness, as two such examples. The relatedness itself is determined based upon meta-data associated with each of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E. The meta-data may include an application title and an application description. Each word or phrase in an application title or description of one of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E that is similar or common to a word or phrase in an application title or description of another of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E is deemed to indicate a point of relation. A greater number of points of relation therefore indicate a higher degree of relatedness.

A selection 110A, 110D, 110E of the different mobile applications 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E are installed into the memory 130 of the mobile device 120. In response, a subset 160 of the graph 140 is created by applying an installed application filter 150 to the graph 140 so that only portions of the graph 140 pertaining to the selection 110A, 110D, 110E remain in the subset 160. A monitor 170 then monitors performance metrics 180 of a foreground executing one 110D of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E so as to identify poor performance by the executing one 110D of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E. One or more background executing ones of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E are then inspected by detection logic 190 to identify operating characteristics of a related one 110A of the background executing applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E.

Specifically, detection logic 190 computes resource utilization by related one 110A of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E such as memory consumption or a number of requests issued to the network stack of the mobile device 120. The computed resource utilization by the related one 110A of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E is compared to the performance of the foreground executing one 110D of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E. To the extent that the detection logic 190 computes a performance of the foreground executing one 110D of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E to be poor, and the resource utilization of the related one 110A of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E to be high, the detection logic 190 generates a notification 175 that the related one 110A of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E to be interfering with the performance of the foreground executing one 110D of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E. Optionally, the detection logic 190 may then apply an annotation 185 to the graph 140 indicating the interference by the related one 110A of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E with the performance of the foreground executing one 110D of the applications in the selection 110A, 110D, 110E

The process described in connection with FIG. 1 may be implemented in a mobile data processing system. In yet further illustration, FIG. 2 schematically shows a mobile data processing system configured for malware collusion detection. The system includes multiple different mobile devices 210, each with memory, a display and at least one processor. Each of the device 210 periodically communicates with a server 240 coupled to an application repository 250 in which a multiplicity of different mobile applications 220A are stored and published for deployment onto requesting ones of the devices 210. As such, each of the devices 210 includes a set of applications 220B that are a subset of the applications 220A of the application repository 250.

Separately, an additional server 270 is communicatively coupled to the devices 210. The additional server 270 is coupled to a data store 280 in which relatedness graph data 290 is stored. The relatedness graph data 290 reflects a relatedness between different pairs of the applications 220A in the application repository 250 ranging from no relatedness to a high degree of relatedness. The relatedness graph data 290 is derived from meta-data 260 provided with each of the applications 220A in the repository. Optionally, the relatedness graph data 290 also may be derived from published documentation referring to corresponding ones of the applications 220A in the application repository 250 and accessible over the global Internet, for instance Web pages indexed by way of the World Wide Web.

A detection module 300 is stored in and executes in the memory of each of the devices 210. The detection module 300 includes program code that during execution, retrieves a subset of the relatedness graph data 290 into memory of a corresponding one of the devices 210 limited to the applications 220B installed in the corresponding one of the devices 210. The program code further monitors the performance of a foreground one of the applications 220B and also the resource consumption of background ones of the applications 220B. As such, a baseline performance of both the foreground ones of the applications 220B and the resource consumption of the background ones of the applications 220B may be determined. Consequently, a threshold variance of the baseline performance of the foreground ones of the applications 220B in connection with a threshold variance of a baseline resource consumption of the background ones of the applications 220B may result in a determination of suspected malware conclusion. Thus, the program code then determines if a background one of the applications 220B with a high degree of relatedness according to the subset of the relatedness graph data 290 is interfering with the operation of the foreground one of the applications 220B so as to indicate malware collusion. If so, the program code of the detection module 300 renders an alert in a display of a corresponding one of the devices 210.

Notably, the program code of the detection logic 300 in response to detecting malware collusion, may upload an annotation to the relatedness graph data indicating that the interfering one of the applications 220B interferes with the foreground executing one of the applications. The annotation then may be provided to a different one of the devices 210 when the interfering one of the applications 220B is installed onto the different one of the devices 210. Optionally, the annotation may be removed when a new version of the interfering one of the applications 220B is published in the application repository 250 in substitute for the version of the interfering one of the applications 220B determined to have engaged in malicious inter-application interaction. As such, the annotations indicating malware collusion may be crowdsourced in the relatedness graph data 290.

In even yet further illustration of the operation of the detection module 300, FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device. Beginning in block 310, a mobile application installed onto a mobile device executes in the foreground of the mobile device. In block 320, the detection module 300 monitors the performance of the foreground application. In decision block 330, the detection module 300 determines if the performance of the foreground application is poor. In this regard, the detection module 300 compares the historical performance of the foreground application to the contemporaneously computed performance. The detection module 300 deems performance poor when the computed performance falls below a threshold value of the historical performance.

In decision block 330, if the detection module 300 determines the performance of the foreground application to be poor, in decision block 340 the detection module 300 determines if one or more applications execute in the background of the mobile device and remain to be analyzed. If so, in block 350 the detection module 300 selects a first of the background applications and in block 360, the detection module 300 determines if the selected background application is related. If not, the detection module 300 determines in decision block 340 if additional background applications remain to be analyzed. But, in decision block 360, if the detection module 300 determines that a selected background application is related to the foreground application, in block 370 the detection module 300 computes resource utilization by the selected background application.

In decision block 380, the detection module 300 determines if the resource utilization by the selected background application is deviant from a historically measured utilization of resources when the selected background application executes in the background of the mobile device while a different, unrelated application executes in the foreground of the mobile device. If so, in block 390 the detection module 300 displays a notification in a display of the mobile device alerting the end user of the malware collusion by the background application with the foreground application. As well, in block 400 the detection module 300 transmits an update to the graph specifying the malware collusion.

The present invention may be embodied within a system, a method, a computer program product or any combination thereof. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium or media having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention. The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Finally, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for malware collusion detection in a computing device, the computer-implemented method comprising: measuring, by one or more processors, a first computing resource usage of a foreground application executing on a computing device; measuring, by the one or more processors, a second computing resource usage of a background application executing on the computing device; generating, by the one or more processors, a relatedness graph for the foreground application and the background application, based at least in part on an application repository; determining, by the one or more processors, if the foreground application and the background application are related to one another, based at least in part on the relatedness graph; responsive to a determination that the foreground application and the background application are related to one another, comparing, by the one or more processors, the historical resource usage of the foreground application to the background application; comparing, by the one or more processors, the first computing resource usage to the second computing resource usage; determining, by the one or more processors, if execution of the foreground application and changes in the first computing resource usage, corresponds to changes in the second computing resource usage in the background; and responsive to determining the first resource usage and the second resource usage change correspondingly, sending, by the one or more processors, an alert indicative of the corresponding resource change.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, by the one or more processors, an alert if the comparison of the historical resource usage of the background application exceeds a predetermined threshold.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein computing resource usage is a communication made over a network, to recipients external to the device.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the foreground application and the background application are competitive with one another in the marketplace.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the alert is a notification displayed on a mobile computing device.
 7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein related is determined by an analysis of the metadata of the foreground application and the metadata of the background application.
 8. A computer system for malware collusion detection in a computing device, the computer system comprising: one or more computer processors; one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; program instructions stored on the at least one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising: program instructions to measure a first computing resource usage of a foreground application executing on a computing device; program instructions to measure a second computing resource usage of a background application executing on the computing device; program instructions to generate a relatedness graph for the foreground application and the background application, based at least in part on an application repository; program instructions to determine if the foreground application and the background application are related to one another, based at least in part on the relatedness graph; responsive to a determination that the foreground application and the background application are related to one another, program instructions to compare the historical resource usage of the foreground application to the background application; program instructions to compare the first computing resource usage to the second computing resource usage; program instructions to determine if execution of the foreground application and changes in the first computing resource usage, corresponds to changes in the second computing resource usage in the background; and responsive to determining the first resource usage and the second resource usage change correspondingly, program instructions to send an alert indicative of the corresponding resource change.
 9. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising: program instructions to send an alert if the historical resource usage of the background application exceeds a predetermined threshold.
 10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein computing resource usage is a communication made over a network, to recipients external to the device.
 11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the foreground application and the background application are competitive with one another in the marketplace.
 12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device.
 13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the alert is displayed on the mobile computing device.
 14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein related is determined by an analysis of the metadata of the foreground application and the metadata of the background application.
 15. A computer program product for malware collusion detection in a mobile computing device, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions including instructions to: program instructions to measure a first computing resource usage of a foreground application executing on a computing device; program instructions to measure a second computing resource usage of a background application executing on the computing device; program instructions to generate a relatedness graph for the foreground application and the background application, based at least in part on an application repository; program instructions to determine if the foreground application and the background application are related to one another, based at least in part on the relatedness graph; responsive to a determination that the foreground application and the background application are related to one another, program instructions to compare the historical resource usage of the foreground application to the background application; program instructions to compare the first computing resource usage to the second computing resource usage; program instructions to determine if execution of the foreground application and changes in the first computing resource usage, corresponds to changes in the second computing resource usage in the background; and responsive to determining the first resource usage and the second resource usage change correspondingly, program instructions to send an alert indicative of the corresponding resource change.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising: program instructions to send an alert if the historical resource usage of the background application exceeds a predetermined threshold.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein computing resource usage is a communication made over a network, to recipients external to the device.
 18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the foreground application and the background application are competitive with one another in the marketplace.
 19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device.
 20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein related is determined by an analysis of the metadata of the foreground application and the metadata of the background application. 